Industry & Intrigue (16 page)

“
No it’s something else,” said
Reese. “She’s been acting strange since all night and I don’t think
it’s the food. I’m going to look for her.” He stood up and made his
way down the stairs and Michael threw up his hands in mock
frustration.

“
What’s up
? We come all the way here and
no one can be bothered to sit still for the main event.” Michael
turned back to watch the current act, a group of blind-folded elves
were throwing daggers at targets with uncanny accuracy.

Reese
arrived outside but could see no sign
of Cassandra.

“
Reese!”
He heard her scream his name
and he whipped his head in the direction of the sound. She was
running towards him, away from another tent.

“
What’s wrong?’ he asked. Before
she could answer the circus master emerged from the tent and behind
him came an army of performers but they didn’t look human. Reese
had no idea what they were. They looked some horrifying
amalgamation of people and plants, and they were chasing
Cassandra.

“
Kill them
all
!”
shouted the circus master and the plant beings moved faster. Reese
turned and ran along with Cassandra, they had to get Michael and
get out of here. At least the main tent would give them cover from
the monstrosities, but when they reached the entrance that thought
was dashed when he heard screams coming from inside.

Chapter 14

Brenna
kept a careful eye on the carriage
they had followed all the way to the town of Surrin and the Night
Circus. Their horses were in a nearby stall while they stood behind
a smaller carriage watching for signs of activity.

Snar, whose agorid eyes could
see far better in the lowlig
ht, said, “Nothing sergeant. The kitsune is
remaining vigilant at the carriage.”

“
No surprise there, if it’s a
Red Knight,” said Brenna. Following their quarry had become more
complicated than she had anticipated. The two who worked for Mikono
had been joined by a masked kitsune outside the city gate. The red
colored helm symbol on his clothes marked him as a Red
Knights.

“
I have heard the name of
course,” said Snar. “I thought them to be just another mercenary
group.”

Brenna
shook her head. “They’re not
mercenaries, they’re professional soldiers. They don’t even like to
be called mercenaries, they prefer the term private security
contractors. The founder, Hector Cicero came up with that term. He
established the Red Knights from his own battalion of loyalist
exiles of the Estaran Civil War. They now have the second largest
armed force in Alkos after the Imperial Army.”

Snar said
, “I’m surprised the emperor
allowed them to grow so large.”

“
Cicero is smart. He makes
friends in the right places and always give imperial contracts
first priority. The emperor and the government saw the benefits in
employing them when it was called for.”

Brenna didn’t mention that the Red Knights
had played a major role in the latest expansions into Kangur,
unsure how Snar would take the news they were involved in killing
his brethren.

“
And furthermore,” she said,
“that kitsune is wearing a high lord mask, which means he’s a
member of the highest class of Minakayan nobles. They never reveal
their faces to anyone outside of close friends and family. They
also take their honor and discipline seriously, which means he
won’t let us get near that cart without a fight. That would let our
targets get away. We need to catch them red-handed, when they bring
their drugs to the cart. On the plus side, if Mikono is using a Red
Knight for protection, we can be certain that whatever her people
are picking up is valuable.”

Brenna took another look.
T
he kitsune
had a long, thin sword on his back and was looking in a different
direction every few minutes, his eyes carefully scanning for
threats. There was movement near the carriage, the man they had
been following from the city appeared and was pushing a pallet that
was loaded with several crates. He stopped and unhooked the opening
of the carriage.

“
Sergeant, I believe the moment
we have been waiting for has arrived,” said Snar and he
pointed.

Brenna
smiled
.
“Excellent, let’s go have a word with them. Hopefully the knight
doesn’t know what he’s helping to protect. If that’s the case he
should stand down.”

“
Why would he do that?” asked
Snar, following Brenna as she walked out from behind their cover
and put her hand on her revolver.

She explained how the Red
Knights operated. “T
hey steer clear of anything illegal and I doubt the knight
would have taken a contract if he knew he was aiding in the
smuggling of drugs.”

Brenna pulled her
revolver
and
held it out in front of her. She approached the carriage and
shouted, “Alkos City Watch, no one move!”

Snar held his axe in
his hand ready for
whatever came. The kitsune stared at them, though with the mask
covering his face his reaction was indiscernible. The man who was
pushing the crates onto the cart froze.

The kitsune’s voice was heavily
accented
and
muffled. “How may we help you officer?” He held out his hands in
front of him to show Brenna that he was not holding a weapon. But
she suspected he could draw his sword swiftly if he
needed.

“
S
tay right where you are. I’m only
interested in your client and his cargo,” she said.

“
I’m afraid I’ll have to
know what your
purpose is before I allow you near my client. Surely that’s not too
much to ask?” he replied. She thought she detected a hint of
sarcasm when he said the word client.

“
He is suspected of
smuggling
drugs and in regards to that, myself and my partner need to
search those crates.” Snar stepped into view and the kitsune
muttered something in his native language while the man on the
carriage opened his mouth in momentary shock.

“
M
y only function is to provide protection.
If my client is involved in anything illegal, I am unaware of it,”
replied the kitsune. She had been right, the Red Knight wanted to
make sure he was not complicit in anything illegal.

The man on the carriage gave
the kitsun
e
an angry look. “You’re meant to be our muscle,” he said, angrily.
The masked mercenary held a hand and the man went quiet, still
keeping his angry brown eyes on the kitsune.

Brenna walked past the kitsune. Now that
she was closer, she could appreciate the quiet and coiled tension
in his form. He was ready to defend himself; she didn’t want to
provoke him if she could help it.

She stepped up on the back of the
carriage. “Go and stand behind your bodyguard,” she said to the
man, who scowled at her, but did as she ordered. The kitsune
mercenary looked up at the tall and bulky figure of Snar who was
stood opposite him, his axe balanced in both hands.

“
An agorid watch officer,
now there’s
something I never thought I’d see,” he said in an amused
tone.

Brenna stepped over to the crates and
looked them over. They had no markings to indicate what was
contained inside. She put her hand on the top of one and pulled at
the latch.

Before she could open it
she heard Snar yell
out, “Stop!” and she turned.

The man who had been loading
the crates was making a run for it
. Brenna jumped at him and her fingers
brushed against the fabric of his pants, but she wasn’t fast
enough. He slipped away and reached the perimeter of the carriage
area and moved into the thick trees.

Damn. T
hose trees will slow down Snar, I
hate going after someone without back up
thought Brenna.

She was about to step into
th
e trees
when a scream followed by cursing came from the direction the man
had entered. He fell back suddenly, turned around and started
running in the opposite direction. There were more odd noises from
the trees and several figures stepped out from the same place as
the suspect.

Brenna had never seen anything
like them in her life; th
ey were bipedal but had vines and leaves bursting
out of their grey-green skin. They held out their hands and
methodically moved towards her.

Brenna held out her gun and loudly warned
them, “Don’t come any closer.” They didn’t respond, and continued
walking forward. She gave off a warning shot above what she assumed
was the creature’s heads. They paused for a second after her shot
but then resumed their stiff walk.

“
Don’t say I didn’t warn
you,” she said and
she aimed at a leg and pulled the trigger. The bullet hit with
light splat and the plant-thing let out a howl of pain. Greenish
blood leaked out of the wound. It continued coming on however and
she fired off several more shots at its torso until it fell to the
ground.

Sna
r came charging in at them, he swung
his axe to both sides and cleaved two in half. One raked at his arm
with its long talons, cutting him. He growled and hefted his axe,
burying it in the creature’s head, green blood spraying over his
arms.

As he
pulled his axe out of the monster’s
skull, three more of them clawed at his back and he roared in pain.
He managed to knock one of them aside but the other two latched on
to his back and stabbed at him.

Brenna fired off her last two shots at the
creatures near her and then pulled out her short sword, finishing
them off with two quick stabs. She looked over at Snar’s
predicament but was unable to help him. There were three more
blocking her from getting to him and it was all she could do to
prevent them from slicing her with their razor-sharp claws. She
swung her sword, keeping them at bay as best she could.

A quick rush of air
passed her head and
then the sound of metal meeting flesh. All three of their heads
toppled off their bodies. The masked kitsune was standing behind
them with his sword drawn. Brenna could see two more of the
creatures lying in a similar decapitated state near
Snar.

“
I believe that as officers of
the law you now have a more important duty to carry out than
searching for prohibited substances.” He pointed with his sword
towards the main circus area. There was a lot of noise coming from
the area. It sounded like fighting and screaming.

“
These things are deadly.” He
examined the claws of the ones h
e had decapitated. “A plant-human
amalgamation. I will help you fight them and save what patrons of
the circus you can,” he said. “All I ask in return is that if my
clients were in fact conducting illegal activities that you would
keep my presence here out of your report.”

Brenna wanted to find the drugs, but he
was right. First and foremost she had a duty to Alkon citizens if
they were in danger. She smiled slightly. “I wouldn’t be able to
put you in my report anyway. Not without a name.”

He nodded
. “I am called
Tanaka.”

Snar lumbered up behind him and
Brenna asked
, “Are you all right?” He was bleeding on his arm and back,
but didn’t appear bothered by it.

“
Merel
y scratches,” he replied. “It sounds
as if there could be more of these twisted beings at the
circus.”

“
Yes
,” said Tanaka. “We must move fast
officers, for I fear that there are many lives at stake.” With that
he was off and running towards the circus, Brenna and Snar
struggled to keep pace with his speed.

***

Some said patience was a virtue but it was
not one that Inissa Renoch had in large abundance. And what little
she did have, has been worn thin by the elephant trainer, Danton.
He had dithered around wanting to double check everything before
allowing her to have the tarcaine and was acting paranoid. It was
as frustrating as all the hells.

Liam had taken the first half of the
shipment to the carriage but he should have returned by now. She
was stuck waiting by this tent, which reeked of elephant
dung.

Danton walked out
and asked, “Is he
back yet?” His voice betrayed his nervousness.

Inissa gave him a cold stare and he
gulped, wisely not saying anything else. He lit up a tobacco stick
and sighed after taking a large puff. She noticed he was careful
not to let the smoke drift towards her. At least he was self-aware
enough to know how much he had angered her.

Inissa saw Liam running back
down th
e
path towards the tent. “Finally,” she said, exasperated. “Where the
fuck have you been? We’re sitting on an illegal tarcaine shipment
here, not fucking elephant shit!” She was livid. She had no idea
why Barus had chosen this idiot to help her.

She realized
s
omething
was wrong, he had come back without the pallet mover and he looked
like he had seen a ghost. “What happened?” she said, her anger
fading to concern.